Rise of the ScienceNin
by uo-chou
Summary: Sarutobi doesn't know what to do with Naruto after Minato's sacrifice. With a vocal minority calling for the child's death, he sends the boy to be raised by an old friend from Snow Country. Chakra Armor, Technology, and an unstoppable Jinchuuriki.
1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter I: Son of a Scientist

Miamoto Sakabutai frowned as he examined the left anterior coupling on the half finished set of chakra armor sitting on the workbench in front of him. The supports on the coupling were slightly warped, and though they looked sturdy, he knew that there was a good chance they would fail under too much force.  
"Naruto," he said, looking at the seven year old boy standing beside him, "what is wrong with this coupling?" The boy squinted his eyes in concentration, closely examining the offending component. As comprehension dawned in his eyes, a frown formed on his face. "It's not shaped correctly," he said, speaking slowly. "Did I do the heat treatment incorrectly, Father?" he asked.

Sakabutai smiled down at his son. Sometimes the child's perceptive skills and rational mind surprised even him. "That's it exactly," he said. "How long did you let it quench after the final fold?" he asked. He knew that the length of the quench was essential, the metal had to be allowed to cool in a special chakra conducting liquid for at least an hour, or the final product was prone to loose its shape.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "About half an hour, I think. The simulation I was running on my idea for the new artificial pathways was just finished, I don't think I actually timed it." He looked a little downcast. "I was really excited, and I messed up. I'll have to re-make the coupling."

Sakabutai sighed. "My son, the theoretical physicist," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're always thinking of what might be instead of what is in front of you. You know that you would get better results if you concentrated on the here and now." His tone and mannerisms were those of a parent chiding his son for a mistake often made. There was also more than a touch of humor in his words, a clear indicator that he wasn't actually angry at the boy. Remaking the coupling was punishment enough; the task would take a week at least. In the elemental countries only very large businesses owning multi-billion ryo factories could afford mass produced parts. The tech oriented ninja of Snow Country had to make everything themselves, by hand. It was an extremely time consuming process, difficult to teach and prone to error. These were the only reasons every ninja in the elemental countries didn't use chakra armor. It was a bitch and a half to make, and cost millions of ryo to purchase. Not that just any suit would work for a particular Nin. Chakra armor was created for a particular ninja, tailored to exacting specifications based on everything from the wearer's physical dimensions, chakra capacity, control, elemental chakra type, and most used jutsu. Of course the fruit of this exacting process was an item that could turn a fresh genin of no particular skill into a soldier capable of defeating most chuunin. True, there were some generic chakra armor floating around, mostly cast offs and armors made by failed apprentices. They were typically just breastplates of no particular specification, which could slightly enhance all ninjutsu, and sometimes poorly shield from chakra attacks. There was even a model he'd seen with chakra enhanced glider wings. Sakabutai shook his head at the stupidity of that. The wings would drain chakra like a motherfucker, making the shielding properties of the armor, it's most important point, far less effective. Those shitty generic chakra armors would probably break when hit with any A-class jutsu. Worthless.

Sakabutai snapped out of his musings as he felt Naruto tug at his sleeve. "Father, I promise to do a better job next time." He eyes, normally opened wide and sparkling with mirth, were set in a mask of determination. "I promise not to disappoint you again." Sakabutai could see the child's other hand. It was clenched in determination. He didn't doubt that his son would live up to his almost hastily given promise. It was Naruto's nindo to never go back on his word. He believed it.

"I'm not disappointed in you, boy. I know you're capable of good work, I've seen it and held it. You've only been learning to make chakra armor for a little less than two years now, and you're already almost finished with your third complete armor. If you keep up at this pace, I will have to award you your mastery in only a few years." He smiled down at the young boy, delighted again at his choice to adopt the child. Naruto had turned out to be highly intelligent, possessing an almost genius level intellect. Most importantly, the boy was an extremely hard worker, and was also very creative, traits which Sakabutai himself valued more than raw intelligence. The old man once again promised himself that he would do the best he could for Naruto, despite the almost unreasonable terms that his old friend Sarutobi had made him agree to before the adoption was completed. He would have to let the secrets of his former village, the dead and destroyed Yukigakure no Sato, fall into the hands of Konoha, through Naruto. He had made an agreement to bring Naruto back to Konoha in only 5 years, so that his son could graduate from Konoha's ninja academy with children his own age.

Naruto beamed at the praise from his only parent. He made no secret of the fact that he lived for moments like this, as they were somewhat scarce. His father gave him all the affection he could hope for, but was miserly with his praise, handing it out only rarely. "I've included an enhancement in this set. The artificial chakra pathways I was telling you about before, I've tested them and they're ready to use. I still need to learn more about kanji sealing arrays, but once I've translated more hand-seal based jutsu into kanji arrays, I'll be one step closer to performing one-handed and seal-less jutsu." He smiled brightly, thinking about the possibilities. He would be able to use jutsu that his body wouldn't normally be capable of, due to his lack of chakra control. His enormous reserves, while an enormous benefit in terms of stamina and power, were also a liability in terms of control. Even if he spent all day, every day practicing high level chakra control exercises, he would never be able to have fine control of his chakra. Naruto conceived the concept of artificial chakra pathways from his father's lectures of the physics of chakra, and the components of the chakra armor that enhanced jutsu. Sakabutai's chakra armor acted like insulation for the wearer's chakra, storing it and preventing it from dissipating while the seals engraved between layers focused the chakra slightly, making the jutsu a little more precise, and up to 60 percent more powerful. Naturo's new invention did almost the opposite. He had discovered that hand-seals were originally created based upon the kanji seals that seal masters used, and had developed a process to "translate" kanji seals to hand seals, and vice versa. He found that kanji seals required no chakra control to speak of, the array itself would shape and convert the chakra into the necessary form and element. Hand-seals, were almost complete dissimilar; They shaped the chakra in a vague and much more general way, requiring the user to force their chakra into the correct pattern through their own willpower, and the "clenching" of their chakra pathways. This was commonly called "chakra control". Those with little chakra usually had excellent control, as they were able to clench their chakra pathways easily, as there was little chakra pressurizing them. People with large chakra reserves usually got them through training, after mastering chakra control when they were younger. This allowed them to slowly build up their reserves and control at the same time, improving the "muscles" which clenched their chakra pathways. Naruto, however, had a Demon implanted in his chakra system, which caused his own chakra to grow at both a young age and an incredible rate. His pathways became thick and almost immobile, causing his to hardly be able to clench them at all. His pathways were also almost always incredibly full, pressurized like a fire hose, making them unable to bend. He could train his chakra control intelligently by empting his reserves with several powerful jutsu, then learning control while his pathways were depressurized, and he did this, but it wasn't enough. He craved the ability to use precision jutsu like genjutsu and medical jutsu, and thus had developed an aid for himself. For his prototype version of the artificial pathways, Naruto had deconstructed the first steps of hundreds of common hand-seal jutsu, and translated them into kanji sealing arrays, which he then engraved into his armor. This first version of this invention allowed him to perform hundreds of jutsu perfectly every time he used them, as long as he did the hand-seals correctly, and had enough chakra to power them. The second version, which he just completed, would theoretically allow him to perform many jutsu with either one-handed seals or no seals at all, though he could still use the seals if he wanted to.

Sakabutai smiled at his son once more, the boy was staring down at the nearly finished armor, obviously himself lost in thought. 'Like Father, like Son," he thought. With a pat on the back, he left his child to his work. The boy would need another month or two to finish his third armor.

Author's Note:

And thus completes the first chapter of "Rise of the Science-Nin". I have pretty much the whole story planned out in my head, but I'm open to suggestions. I don't know if there will be any pairings yet, but if there are they will be a side note to the main story. I've always been annoyed with the explanations for chakra that the manga gives. How can it have different elemental nature? How can it combust, and yet cut, just by using different hand motions? Through this story, I will be trying to create an explanation of how chakra can do all of these things, using basic scientific principals. I see chakra as nothing more than a form of energy, and ninjas as people who have cobbled together a makeshift system of manipulating this energy, taught through trite explanations and copied motions. I am attempting to cast the ninja of Snow Country as pioneers of a new way of dealing with chakra—treating it as a natural phenomenon and applying the scientific method to it, in order to understand it.

P.S.: Any and all feedback is encouraged and appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter II: Home Coming?

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: _"Chakra is not a mixture of spiritual and physical energy as some ninja claim, thought it will increase if you train your body and your mind, which gives rise to that myth. Chakra is an energy which permeates every cell of every living organism, it is a radiation of the electromagnetic spectrum given off by cells when their mitochondria turn chemical energy into electrical energy. It is unmatched by anything else, manmade or natural, and despite our best attempts, we cannot recreate it, for to recreate chakra would be to create life itself."_

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Sakabutai frowned as he gazed up the Hokage Monument from about a half mile away from the gates of Konohagakure no Sato. The appearance of the giant effigy made the loss of his adopted son all the more real. He was sure they had been spotted by at least three sets of patrols coming in, and he could feel at least two more sets of eyes on him, even now. Only a fool would think the two Chuunin at the gate were the only thing guarding a ninja village. Breathing somewhat heavily, Miamoto looked down at the boy with the sun kissed hair standing beside him. Since they had left the Snow Country five weeks ago, Naruto had been a whirlwind of different emotions, vacillating between exuberance at seeing more of the world, and gloom at the knowledge that he would soon be separated from the man who had raised him and taught him nearly everything he knew. Sakabutai could appreciate Naruto's feelings. Even though he had seen his own children grow up and leave his home long ago, he had never had one taken from him before they were ready. He almost regretted deciding to adopt the little blond haired bundle of energy nearly 12 years before, but the child was such an apt apprentice and a wonderful son that Sakabutai loved him as much as he had any of his natural children, and would have made the same decision over again, despite the pain he was feeling at his eminent loss.

Naruto felt both jubilation and in his heart and a heavy feeling in his gut as he look up at the giant faces in front of him. Some part of him knew instinctively that this day would herald the end of his childhood. "So those are the Hokage." He said. His father nodded. "The First and Second, Senjuu Hashirama and his little brother Tobirama, both hailed as geniuses for the creation of their signature ninjutsu. There was the Third Hokage, the second oldest ninja in the elemental nations, master of over 1000 jutsu and known as _The Professor _and _The God of Shinobi_. He has never been beaten in combat, even once." Miamoto snorted a smirk on his face. Naruto himself chuckled a bit.

"That young upstart never faced _me_." said Miamoto. Naruto shook his head slowly, somewhat amused. His father could definitely beat Sarutobi, if they fought in the Snow Country. Many of his father's jutsu were techniques that utilized ice and snow. Then there was the famous Miamoto family bloodline. They were completely immune to the cold, and even grew stronger from it. In the middle of a natural blizzard, their chakra would never run out. There were even jutsu that turned normal water into ice, which only a Sakabutai could use. And if a Miamoto remained in the mountains of the Snow Country, where the Village Hidden in the Snow used to be, they aged extremely slowly. Miamoto was over 200 years old, and the last known holder of the bloodline, yet he didn't look a day over 50. All of his ancestors and children had died or fled during the first and second Great Shinobi wars. Outside of their snowy domain, many with the Hyoton bloodline were hardly a match for other ninja, used to fighting in warmer climates, and had fallen prey to the vastly superior numbers employed by their enemies. It was during the first war that Miamoto had invented the chakra armor as a way of combating the Hidden Snow's weakness outside of their home turf. This had evened the odds for quite a while, but over time the disparity between the amount of shinobi in their enemies' villages and the Snow village grew too great. What use was it if a Snow Jounin could take on ten Rock Jounin and win, if there were twenty more waiting to finish the fight afterward? The desertions and the deaths sped up during the second war, until the Snow village had less than twenty ninja remaining, mostly Miamoto and his close family. At last, he couldn't keep them together any longer and most of his children left to seek their fortunes elsewhere, forsaking their homeland and bloodline. The only ones left were Miamoto and his wife, who had died three years before he adopted Naruto. Miamoto would never admit it, but adopting the young child over a decade ago had probably saved his life. Without anyone to tie him to the mortal plane, he had been beginning to contemplate committing suicide.

Naruto humored his father as he watched the old man get lost in thought, as he often did. Naruto never complained, as he had the same propensity except when training or working on chakra theory or his inventions. He was glad to have been raised by such a good parent, even if they were almost as physically dissimilar as could be. Miamoto was tall and lithe, while Naruto was short and powerfully built. Miamoto, despite his age, moved with a speed and grace that was matchless. Naruto moved slower than the average ninja, or so he had been told, but he made up for it with power and precision. Miamoto's hair was black turning to steely silver, long, straight and tied into a pony tail, a complete contrast to Naruto's short and wild bright blond spikes. The ancient ninja's wrinkled features looked like they could have almost been feminine, were the age lines ironed out, while Naruto's facial features at eleven exuded the kind feral masculinity that many men in their twenties tried to cultivate and failed at. He smiled sadly; this may be the last time he really looked at the man who had raised him for months or years.

Miamoto broke from his musings, and shook his head softly. "Please continue, son. Who is the final face engraved on that rock?" The old ninja said this with a slight smile.

Naruto, with a blank face, replied, "Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. Inventor of the Advanced Shunshin, the Rasengan, and the Hiraishin. The most powerful ninja the Village Hidden in the Leaves has ever produced. He gave his life to seal a daemon into my stomach. Genetically, he is my male parent." He said this with a frown on his face. Ever since Sakabutai had told him about his lineage and the reason he had been an orphan less than a day after he was born, Naruto had alternated between admiration and loathing for the man whose seed had sparked his life. He had also refused to refer to the Fourth Hokage in any sort of familiar way, afraid that it would distance him from the man who had raised him since he was a baby.

"Maa, don't be so emotionless, son. You know, I wouldn't care if you called him PopPop and started dressing exactly like the guy. I know whose son you are." A humorous smile lit the old shinobi's face. Naruto gave a light chuckle and smiled again, even if it was faint.

"Well. Lets go inside. Time to meet your countrymen." Naruto nodded, his eyes shining with determination.

They walked together toward the gate, the lingering eyes of the ANBU in the tress behind them sliding over the backs of the two cloaked foreigners. Miamoto stopped at the registration booth at the gate, looking down at the two chuunin there. One was leaning against the back of the booth, tufts of unruly brown hair escaping from under his bandana, the other one, spiky locks fanning wildly from the top of his head and a bandage across his nose, and was sitting on a stool. They both perked up a little when the two shinobi across from them stepped forward.

"Welcome to Konohagakure no Sato, please state your business," said Kotetsu. Izumo eyed them lazily. Neither of them looked particularly competent, but Miamoto had met people much dumber looking who were very powerful.

"Miamoto Sakabutai, retired ninja of Yukigakure no Sato, here for an arranged meeting with Sarutobi Hiruzen." Stated the ancient ninja. He was too old for games, and these days he liked to get right to the point.

Both of the guard's backs because straighter, and the one in the back spoke. "I see. Papers, please?" Sakabutai held out his travel papers and the pass from Sarutobi which allowed him to meet with the man without first being interrogated or searched. At the sight of the pass, one of only four, the guards exchanged a look, and both of them cast genjutsu dispelling techniques, and then the authentication jutsu. The pass glowed a light red. The chuunin immediately relaxed somewhat, and the one in the back bowed slightly, still never taking his eyes off of the two foreigners. "Greetings Miamoto-sama. The Hokage gave us orders to expect you within the next few days. Please, let me escort you and your charge to the Hokage."

Izumo stepped out of the booth, and gestured for them to follow. The snow-nin and his adopted son walked beside the gate guard, toward a massive tower situated in the middle of town. Naruto had thought they would be getting strange looks from the villagers, and he admitted to himself that they might even turn into hostile glares if they recognized him, but he realized that nobody was paying much attention to them. There were plenty of foreigners arriving each day to do business or trade their wares; even foreign ninja weren't too uncommon, as Konoha was allied to one degree or another with several other hidden villages. Plus, the place was enormous. He guessed that nearly a hundred thousand people lived here, judging from the size of the place. They were currently passing through the edge of the market district, and Naruto's face was just one of many. In their rough traveling cloaks, he and his father were quite nondescript.

After ten minutes of brisk walking, they arrived at the base of the tower. It was even larger than he had thought. Some of the apartment buildings and warehouses he had seen were more massive, but this was the single tallest human created structure that Naruto had ever laid eyes on. He smiled nervously, anticipation and anxiety warring with each other in his stomach. Izumo led them inside, meeting the eye of an alert guard on the ground floor and making a quick gesture with his left had. The guard relaxed an iota. He led them up the stairs. And up. And up. Finally, at about the 30th floor, by Naruto's reckoning, they reached the top floor. There was a large auditorium on one side of the hallway, with several dozen seats and a central podium. On the other side was a closed door, which looked extremely durable. Naruto focused just a hair of chakra to his eyes, and could almost see the door glowing with seals. This would be the Hokage's office.

Izumo knocked at the door in a special pattern, and it opened almost instantly. The three stepped into a large office, containing an old man behind a desk who was currently filling out some paperwork. A pipe jutted from the side of his mouth. He looked up at the visitors. Izumo simultaneously bowed and saluted which Naruto thought looked slightly ridiculous, and then spoke. "Hokage-sama, your expected visitor, and his charge." Sarutobi lazily returned the salute.

"Thank you Izumo-san. You are dismissed." Izumo bowed low once more, and then departed. Naruto snorted. Kiss-ass.

Once they heard the man's feet descending the stairs, both of the old men shared a look and broke out into a light chuckle. "A new chuunin, Hiruzen?" asked Miamoto.

"Hai. Very new. He just made grade last week. He's only D-rank and somewhat lazy, but he's damned good at sniffing out lies, and I needed another full time gate guard. If his ability to read people keeps developing, he'll probably go to T&I." The two ancient leaders shared a small grimace. The torture and interrogation department of any hidden village was both a bane and a blessing, and shinobi who could read or manipulate others and had no specialties with a higher priority were their mainstay.

"It's been a long time, old friend," said Miamoto around a smile."

"Over ten years," replied Sarutobi, "And you don't look even a day older." Sakabutai didn't return the compliment. Sarutobi looked like he had aged enough for the both of them.

The old Hokage raised himself from his padded chair, and gestured across the hall as he started walking in that direction. The other two followed him into the council chambers and they each took a seat on one of the loose chairs to the side of the speaking floor. "So, tell me… How have you been, Naruto?" asked the aged Hokage.

Naruto looked into the man's eyes, and saw a veneer of compassion overlaid upon a soul made of tempered steel. This man cared for people, something many ninja lost the ability to do as they aged or gained strength, and yet he saw that beneath that lay resolve that no one could crush. The man would protect his own ninja to the death, by utterly crushing whatever had the audacity to threaten them. Naruto resolved that the smart thing to do would be to put himself in the former group.

"I am well. The journey was long, but I got to see many new things along the way. I even got to fight a bandit! This tower is amazing." Naruto realized he had started to ramble, so he stopped. The Third's eyes were gleaming with mirth, and he wore a true grin.

"It's always something amazing, to explore new places. I sometimes forget how novel our "village" must be to those from much smaller lands. We are the third largest city in the elemental nations, after all." He smiled again, this one a bit sad. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to grow up here. I'm sure your father has explained to you why."

Naruto nodded, no expression on his face now.

Sarutobi looked even sadder. "I tried my best, Naruto, and many of the ninja in this village saw you as a hero, but the villagers wanted a scapegoat. Many of them lost their lives when the Kyuubi attacked, and in their grief the survivors looked for anything to lash out at. I fear that if you had remained, at the least you would have been completely shunned by most civilians. And group dynamics being what they are, the ninja may have started following their lead. As it is, you have a fresh start. No one remembers the name Uzumaki Naruto, outside of a few friends of your birth father. You will just be another new shinobi at the academy when you start tomorrow. I doubt those who remember you even know your name, and they certainly haven't told their children about your condition. You should fit in just fine." The old man smiled again as he finished his oration.

Naruto nodded. "I understand Hokage-sama. Please don't have any regrets about sending me away, my childhood was excellent. My father…," he met Miamoto's eyes, and he fought down a nearly inaudible sob, "-did an excellent job of raising me and teaching me the things necessary to become a ninja. I had it better than most orphans, I think, and I couldn't have asked for a better home to grow up in." His eyes shined with unshed tears.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, somewhat uncomfortable. He knew when he asked his old friend to raise Minato's son that this day would eventually come, but he still didn't feel good separating a parent from his child. He had even given Sakabutai the option of living in Konoha, but he had to decline. If he spent even a few more months away from his homeland he would grow much weaker, and perhaps even die. In the cold of snow country he might live another two hundred years. If he returned to the ruined Yukigakure where he had raised the young junchiriki… then Naruto would always have a home to return to if things went bad in Konoha, he would always have a father to write to and visit. Sakabutai had long resigned himself to the fact that leaving Naruto was best for him, in the long run.

It sure hurt like a motherfucker right now, though.

The two old men talked for another hour, perhaps two, the blond haired 'tween, now both their charge, making a foray into their conversation at time. Around noon, Sarutobi sent his secretary out for lunch, and she returned with some cheap ramen from some booth or another. Noodles were not a native dish in Snow Country, and having only visited two small villages in the place where he grew up, the experience was a novel one for young Naruto. He made the middle aged lady who brought him this "ramen" give him directions to the place she purchased it. Both his father and the Hokage laughed at the enthusiasm that the lad showed for the simple food.

Toward the middle of the afternoon, everything that needed to be said between the three had been said, and another chuunin by the name of Iruka had been sent for, to meet his new student and to show him to the place he would be staying.

A chuunin of middle height with a scarred nose and a bushy pony tail walked in, just as Miamoto finished delivering the punch line to a bad joke. Sarutobi, having a pretty weird sense of humor gave a light chuckle, and Naruto only groaned, having heard it several times before. In their little part of the Snow Country, his father's terrible and often made-up on the spot jokes were legendary. Iruka stood at attention off to the side, waiting for Sarutobi to acknowledge him.

The Hokage stood up, followed by the other two. He waved the young school teacher over. "Naruto, I would like you to meet Umino Iruka. Iruka-kun, I would like you to meet your newest student, Uzumaki Naruto." The name tickled the back of Iruka's brain, but when he tried to call us the information, it refused to come. Oh, well, he thought.

"Pleased to meet you, Uzumaki-san," said Iruka, giving him a small bow. Naruto smiled, instantly liking the polite young instructor for some reason.

"Hajime-mashite, Iruka-sensei," spoke the young jinchuriki, bowing a tad lower than the older ninja. "I hope I learn a lot under your tutelage, brief as it may be." Iruka smiled at that. He had been told that a new student that had been out of country for most of his life would be joining his class late this year, only a few weeks before the graduation exams. He had been concerned that this was only going to set the boy up for failure, as that was far less time than needed to introduce even the basics of the ninja trade to a beginner. The Hokage had assured him that Naruto had been using chakra since he was three(!) and that he had had personal training from a ninja of nearly Kage level since then. Iruka concerns had vanished at that point, and given way to anticipation to see what this new student would be capable of. Even a shinobi of mediocre talent would be something special if trained by a ninja of that skill level.

Iruka turned to the Hokage. "You wished for my to show Naruto to his new residence, sir?" The Hokage nodded. Iruka turned back to Naruto.

Naruto realized that this was it. This was the last time he would see his father until after he became a ninja, and maybe for years after that. Thanks to a technique his father had taught him, he would be able to write to him, but he knew it wouldn't be the same. He turned to his parent, tears beginning to form in his eyes. To his shock, the older ninja looked like he himself was nearly ready to weep. Miamoto Sakabutai reached down and embraced his son, feeling the young man shake against him, and then they separated, both hardening their features though both their cheeks were wet. Neither Sarutobi nor Umino were immune to the emotions passing between the two.

"You have made me proud, my son," said, the old Snow-nin, "continue to do so. Become a strong ninja of the Leaf."

"I'll miss you, dad." Said Naruto. The old man smiled down at his son. A scroll appeared so suddenly that it seemed to materialize in his hand, and he passed it down to his son. "This is for you. It contains some techniques I have been meaning to give you. Learn them." He turned to his old friend, the past and present Hokage. "Sarutobi. Take care of my son." The old Leaf-nin nodded.

And then Miamoto Sakabutai was gone.

The two Konoha ninja blinked. They hadn't felt any chakra, so it had to have been pure speed, but they hadn't felt a rush of air or seen him depart. Naruto sighed, used to the old man's antics.

"You were going to show me to my new home, Iruka-san?" asked Naruto.

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Author's Note:

If you are reading this, chances are good that you have just finished devouring the second chapter of "Rise of the Science-Nin. With your eyes. Anyhoo, please leave me a review. And if you haven't reviewed the first chapter, review that one as well. I demand it. ;) Anyway, is Iruka going to take Naruto to a house, or a shitty apartment? Help me decide. A big house might be a little scary for a young kid on his own, but a ghetto'partment in the shady side of the leaf might underwhelm or piss off the young kid, after having an entire nearly-empty hidden village to romp around all of his life. Or maybe, Sarutobi has decided to let him do a home-stay with some nice ninja family? :D Place your suggestion in the comment box, per favor.

I introduced "Miamoto-sensei's Quote of the Day" this chapter. These are going to be quotes, mostly about the nature and manipulation of chakra, that Sakabutai taught Naruto as a child. They will almost definitely conflict with cannon in detail, but not in application. I think it's pretty cool, but let me know if you think it's stupid.

Peace out until next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter III: The difference between a Genius and a Hard Worker

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: "_Chakra exhaustion happens when you run out of chakra, right? Somewhat right, and somewhat wrong. Young academy students and genin often train until their reserves are almost completely empty, but they don't pass out or die. Even a Kage with chakra reserves larger than twenty typical jounin can succumb to chakra exhaustion, often before their reserves are even halfway depleted. Chakra exhaustion is the physical stress of your body doing something it was not designed to do – mold chakra. Molding chakra, not emptying your reserves, is the main cause of what is commonly referred to as chakra exhaustion, though some higher level ninja are known to have forcibly used all of their chakra up, which can cause their immediate death. Some people's bodies are better at molding chakra than others…_"

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow and turned the crescent wrench a final time, securing the last of the bolt on the large machine he had unpacked from one of the many storage scrolls he had brought with him from his home in Snow Country. It was one of his most prized inventions, a multifunction device that allowed him to tweak his seals and jutsu to perfection. It was a large immobile device weighing several hundred pounds. It was inscribed with passive seals designed to sense a ninja's chakra capacity, elemental alignment, and several other datum. It also measured the speed, angle, and amount of chakra coming from the body's various tenketsu as jutsu were performed. Basically, it could measure almost every relevant factor in using any chakra technique, and then, thanks to the small computer connected to the device, tell you exactly what to correct to optimally perform the technique in question. Naruto also used it liberally in his experiments, to gather raw data and test new hypotheses. Naruto had begun building this device when he was nine years old, and had just finished two years ago. He had made several improvements to his jutsu and chakra armor using the machine, which he called simply his "chakra analyzer". Since its completion, he had had visions of creating a portable device with the same functions, mounted in a heads up display in the helmet of his chakra visor. It would allow him to instant scan his opponent's capabilities, and to store any techniques he witnessed for later analysis. Basically, it would be the closest machine technology could take him to having an eye-based bloodline limit. Such a thing was still years away, as most of the components for a device like that would have to be painstakingly crafted by hand. Not to mention, he would have to miniaturize hundreds of components... As it was, his first version of the device weighed several hundred pounds, and stood seven feet tall.

Ever since he had first learned what a kekkei genkai was as a small child, Naruto had been fascinated with them. His Father's bloodline limit was intrigued him beyond belief, causing him to spend literally hundreds of hours trying to duplicate the man's innate ability to use ice jutsu using seals. He finally succeeded when he was ten years old, giving him hope that other bloodlines would be able to be "copied" in a similar manner in the future. All he had had to do was use his early versions of the chakra analyzer on his father while he performed jutsu, then reverse-engineer the techniques into their kanji-seal equivalents. He had learned that his father's ice jutsus used a fusion of wind and water chakra to create a completely new element. Theoretically a ninja would be able to use true ice jutsu by combining wind chakra and water chakra, and then molding the result into a jutsu, however it would take years or decades of practice, and he suspected that this method would never approach the ability of a true ice wielder. Naruto never bothered learning any of the fake ice jutsus that were popular among the shinobi of Snow Country that didn't share his Father's bloodline. They were just water techniques with a little shape manipulation thrown in, and couldn't even be used unless there was already ice or snow present. The real Hyoton jutsus created more powerful results, and could be used anywhere, cold or not. Plus, they were as perfect as could be accomplished by a human. By etching the seals for the exact method his Father used for those jutsus, he was able to perform then as flawlessly as his father could, and he being the premier ice user in the elemental nations, meant that Naruto could use them just as well. He had high hopes that there would be bloodline users in Konoha that would allow their skills to be analyzed, so that he could develop translation seals in order to share them. His Father has told Naruto that most bloodline users would probably attack him for even suggesting such a thing, but he thought that he might be able to change their minds by offering up sets of chakra armor in trade. Crafting chakra armor was a skill far more unique than any bloodline, except maybe the sharingan, and he was the only one south of Yuki no Kuni that possessed the skill.

His work finished, Naruto stood up, looking around the enormous room that would be his laboratory once finished. The room bustled with activity as several dozen of his shadow clones moved about, unsealing his equipment from scrolls and setting it up. He was very pleased with the small cottage Iruka had brought him to last night. It was set in a large patch of forest that might have been a training ground at some point, near the southern walls of Konoha. There was a lot of land he could use to train on, and no one had any business coming here unless they needed to see him, which Naruto appreciated. His whole life, he had spoken to no more than three dozen different people, and most of those he had met since leaving Snow Country. He was a social, boisterous person by nature, but the vast throngs of humanity present in Konoha were quite shocking to the sheltered boy.

The house he had been given contained three bedrooms, two smaller and one larger, a bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, dining room, attic, and basement. It was more than enough for his modest needs, especially after he had etched spacial expansion fuuinjutsu into the walls of the basement, expanding it from a 20x20x10 foot room to a monstrous 100x100x25 chamber capable of housing all of his equipment and experiments. Despite his familiarity with them, fuuinjutsu seals continually impressed and amazed the blond jinchurikki. The work progressing at a steady rate, he looked at the seal-reinforced LCD screen embedded in the right sleeve of his chakra armor. It constantly displayed the status of his chakra armor, as well as being the visual interface for the small computer he had added to this, his eighth complete chakra armor. All of the meters showed 100%, but that was not what he was looking for. Above the status display, was a small digital clock, which read 7:15 AM. He nodded to the boss shadow clone, who acknowledged the unspoken command with a nod of his own, and Naruto ascended the now towering staircase to the upper level of the house.

He emerged in the kitchen, and began eating a breakfast of sausages, eggs, toast, oatmeal, and waffles that another two clones had been working on. He had only awoken two hours ago, to see where the clones he had created the night before were in their progress and maybe help them a bit. He had to be to class by 9:00 AM, so that gave him a good hour and fifteen minutes to get to the ninja academy. He would have plenty of time to meander through town and to find his homeroom once he arrived at his destination. Naruto threw a loose brown cloak over his chakra armor, and exited his home, following the directions Iruka had given him the night before. As he walked, he admired the sights as his journey took him through a few of the residential and commercial districts of town. He spotted a few ninja supply shops as he traveled, and made note of their locations. He wanted to compare the ninja tools that Konoha nin used, to see how they stacked up to the ones made by himself and his father.

Shortly, Naruto arrived at his destination, a large multi-story building surrounded by small training grounds and obstacle courses. One field was entirely dedicated to marksmanship, evidenced by the wooden training dummies full of kunai and shuriken shaped gouges. In front of the school was a tall oak tree, a quaint rope swing hanging from it. The blond shook his head; it was still weird and mildly disconcerting to see trees that weren't covered in ice or snow. And so many leaves! He was used to forests of coniferous trees. Several students were milling about in front of the school waiting for class, most of them talking together in small groups. The sight of so many children, people at or near his age was somewhat unnerving. He had only spoken to a few others his whole life. He didn't know how to approach them, either. Well, hopefully he would have a chance to interact with them in class, to get used to them. Maybe he would even make a friend or two. He saw some of the children begin to file into the building, and pulled up the sleeve of his cloak to take a look at the time. It was 8:45, time to go inside and find his classroom. He walked through the double doors and quickly made his way down the hallway, stopping to check room numbers as he went. His classroom was room 129, so it wasn't hard to find.

Naruto stepped into room, glancing up at the tiered seats and below, to a single large desk behind which sat Umino Iruka. Several students were already in their seats, a few of which gave him a curious look, including a weird looking student with dark hair and completely white eyes. Naruto guessed that this was the famed byakugan, and fought a shudder. That bloodline limit was much creepier than he thought it would be. Iruka noticed his new student's arrival, and motioned him over.

"Good morning, Naruto. Class will be starting in just a few minutes, so just wait a moment, and I'll introduce you to your classmates." Naruto nodded.

"Hai, Iruka-sensei." replied the blond haired jinchurikki.

Over the next five minutes most of the empty seats were filled with students, then suddenly a bell rang out. Naruto was surprised, but he was too well trained to show it. He guessed the bell was some kind of warning that it was time for class to begin, as no one else seemed alarmed by it. Iruka smiled, and motioned for Naruto to follow him to the teaching space in front of the students.

The scar-faced chunin began, "Class, today I would like to introduce a new student. Uzumaki Naruto will be joining us for the last three weeks of the term, and will join our class for graduation. Please welcome him." There were many curios looks, and he noticed the student before with the doujutsu was looking at him intently.

Iruka quietly asked Naruto to take a seat. The young ninja walked to one of the middle rows and took one of the few empty seats, next to a fairly nondescript girl with brown hair. She gave him a long look, before smiling slightly, then turning back to the front of the class.

Iruka began to lecture, "All right class, we are going to be having the graduation exams in less than a month, so for the next few weeks we will be reviewing all material covered this year in order to make sure everyone is ready. I have confidence that you all can pass if you try your hardest. This morning we will be reviewing the henge no jutsu. In the afternoon we will have taijutsu practicals as well as open target practice. Now, is there anyone who can tell me how the henge no jutsu works?" The young teacher looked around the classroom, waiting for a hand to be raised. Usually a certain kunoichi would raise her arm the fastest and whip out a perfect answer, but today she was silent. He waited for the one he thought would be the rookie of the year to raise his arm, but that boy was quiet as well. "Anyone?" he asked. The new student hesitantly raised his hand. "Uzumaki, please go ahead."

Naruto smiled, a bit intimidated to be speaking in front of such a large group. "The henge no jutsu, or the transformation technique is a technique that allows the user to take the shape of any person or object that they can mentally visualize. This works by cloaking the user in a thin layer of chakra that breaks down and re-arranges itself into a thin layer of photons linked to the user's brain by thin strands of chakra, much like the hooks of a single-layered genjutsu, but with a data-consciousness stream traveling in the opposite direction. The caster uses these information pathways to direct the chakra-reinforced photons to take a particular shape, and bends them using controlled bursts from several tenketsus. The henge is a very versatile jutsu, because it can allow the caster to appear as either smaller or larger than their true size. In the case of a henge increasing the user's mass, a 'padding' of chakra forms between the caster and the photon shell, and also several other chakra strands are create to pass data from the photon 'skin' to the nerves of the user, so that they will be able to feel what is happening to the shell as if it was their own skin. In the case the jutsu caster transforms into a smaller shape, no one is exactly sure what happens to the remainder of the body, though I have created a mathematical model that would seem to indicate the presence of an N-dimensional storage seal woven into the lining of the henge, much like a fuuinjutsu storage seal, but with three dimensions partially emerging from the collapsed space." Throughout his long winded speech, many of his classmates begin to grow wider and wider eyes, and Iruka's mouth had dropped open. That was the kind of description he would have expected a man like Sandaime-sama, or perhaps the 4th Hokage to give. He himself didn't know nearly as much about the inner workings of that particular jutsu. It did sound plausible, and the boy had been trained by an S-class ninja who was a master of science, so Iruka was inclined to believe Naruto knew what he was talking about.

"Very well said, Uzumaki-kun. That is to say, that definition was mostly above my level of understanding, but you did touch on all the points I wanted to convey. A more simplistic way of putting it, is that henge works by imagining who or what you wish to transform into, then coating yourself in chakra while making the appropriate hand seals," explained Iruka. He knew there were a few in the class who had not understood what the new student had said, so he had to explain it in more basic terms. Naruto smiled at his new teacher. His father had explained it in much the same way when he was four years old.

"Now, time for a henge practical. Form a line, and perform the technique when it's your turn." said Iruka.

The class milled around for a moment, getting themselves into a ragged line. Naruto followed ended up next to the brown haired girl again, somewhere near the end of the line. She looked at him again in curiosity. He smiled back this time, a bit more comfortable with the classroom environment now. Other students were talking in quiet voices, so he decided to introduce himself formally.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you." he nodded his head slightly.

"I'm Tenten, it's nice to meet you too," she replied, nodding back. Smalltalk was exchanged for a couple of moments, in which Naruto learned a few interesting facts about the bun-haired girl, including that she was a tool specialist. Naruto had shared that he had been raised in Yuki no Kuni, only recently arriving in Konoha, and getting raised eyebrows and a wide-eyed look from the girl.

They didn't have much time for conversation, as their turn was rapidly approaching. The boy in front of Tenten had just finished, and she was up. The girl made the requisite hand seals in what Naruto thought of as a very slow and clumsy manner, but Iruka nodded in approval. There was a small burst of smoke, and she transformed into a passable copy of their teacher. Naruto found himself unimpressed, but she had been the best of the lot so far. He wondered what these students had been doing for the last 6 years of their lives to be at this low of a skill level. Tenten walked back to her seat, and it was Naruto's turn.

"Please henge yourself into me, Naruto-kun," directed the teacher. Naruto nodded, and was suddenly a mirror likeness of Iruka. No hand seals had been used, and there was no smoke. He was suddenly Naruto one moment, and Iruka the next. Iruka, wide-eyed, cocked his head to the side. As he did so, Naruto followed his every motion, completely in sync. Iruka felt a chill go down his spine, it was as though he was looking into a living mirror. "Excellent, Naruto-kun." he said, and as he began speaking, so was the new student, perfectly copying his voice, tone, and inflection. The timing on his speech were spot-on as well. Suddenly the blond boy was Naruto again, who gave the instructor a quick nod before going to take his seat. Iruka wondered just how skilled Naruto truly was.

The rest of the class finished their henge test soon enough, with only two more standouts. The white-eyed student from before, a somewhat tall boy wearing formal white clothing and sporting the girliest haircut Naruto had ever seen performed a henge slightly better than Tenten's, earning the praise of Iruka, which he met with a stony, unflinching face. The other was a boy wearing a white gi and loose, block pants, who tried to perform the henge several times, but could not. Iruka smiled at black haired genin indulgently, but Naruto could tell his smile was forced. After trying his hardest for two straight minutes with no discernible results, Iruka reluctantly asked the boy to return to his seat. Round eyes hung in shame, the boy did so. Several snickers could be heard throughout the classroom, and Naruto saw the byakugan wielder look at the failed boy with a condescending smirk on his face. The jinchurikki decided then and there that he did not like the doujutsu user.

After the review, Iruka spent over an hour individually critiquing their performances, though in a very kind manner, and giving them several tips in order to perform their techniques. He noticeably skipped over Naruto, Tenten, the white eyed boy, and the bowl cut boy. Naruto wondered if he might be one of those rare people who simply couldn't use chakra. If so, he wondered why he was in a ninja academy at all.

Shortly, it was time to break for lunch. Naruto had forgotten to bring anything, and it seemed they were expected to remain on school grounds for lunch, even though there was no place to purchase a meal. Many of his classmates went to sit outside, taking advantage of the beautiful climate. It was novel to Naruto that someone would travel out of doors to become more comfortable. If he went outside to train, he would always look forward to coming inside where it was cozy and warm for his meals. Quickly deciding on a course of action that would result in a full belly for him, he slipped into a stall in the bathroom, and created a shadow clone. It immediately dispersed itself, letting his already-formed shadow clones at home know of his predicament. One of them would fetch him lunch. He just had to find somewhere to sit and wait for it. He exited the academy, and looked around for a place to sit and eat. Most of the other students of the school, ranging in age from about six to thirteen were sitting in groups and eating. He noticed a blond girl with a pony-tail and a pink girl with a huge forehead, both about a year younger than him, crouched in the bushes spying on a boy with black hair shaped like the ass of a Snow Country goose. He shook his head at the oddness of Konoha people, and wandered off to find a less crowded spot.

He circled the school, walking toward the target field he had seen earlier that morning. There were far fewer people back here, and as he looked around he spotted the boy who had failed the henge sitting alone under a small tree, eating some onigiri. His eyes were downcast, refusing to meet anyone else's. On a whim, Naruto decided to talk with him. He walked over to the boy, who had noticed him approaching, and stood a few feet away. "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice you meet you. Mind if I join you?" The boy simply nodded, chewing a large mouthful of onigiri. Naruto sat beside him a few feet away.

"My name is Rock Lee, academy student and aspiring ninja. Though as you saw, I will probably not be able to become a true ninja unless a miracle happens." A sad look appeared on his face. "A genius of ninjutsu like yourself would probably not understand, but even though I can produce chakra just fine, and even mix it, I have never been able to mold it into a ninjutsu or genjutsu correctly. The other students look down on me for this, even if I'm the second best in taijutsu among our classmates, and the first in speed. Even though I can enhance my movements with chakra, it will not be enough to pass. Despite that, it's my nindo to never give up, and to keep trying until I can become a great ninja even if I can only use taijutsu." Toward the end of his speech, Lee's head began to rise, until he was looking at Naruto with a determined expression on his face, his round, black eyes blazing.

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine. Lee reminded him of himself so much it was scary. When he learned that he would never be able to perform genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, or any regular ninjutsu that required even above average chakra control, he had felt the same determination to prove himself. It was only because his Father had taught him fuuinjutsu that he was able to find a way to overcome his handicap. The boy sitting near him had a similar problem, but on a much larger scale. Naruto wondered if he would be able to use the same methods to help this new student.

While he had been thinking, Lee went back to eating his lunch, apparently unconcerned whether Naruto had anything to say in return or not. Naruto noticed someone running around the side of the academy building carrying a large bento box. He could make out his own features, even from here, and from the gasp of the boy beside him, Rock Lee had noticed the new presence as well. The clone ran up to Naruto, and dropped off his lunch. "Mission: Bring the Boss lunch accomplished!" it said, before dispelling. Thankfully no one other than Lee was close enough to have noticed.

"A solid clone?" asked Lee, his eyes still wide. "You truly are a genius. You might even be better than Neiji."

"I'm not a genius," said Naruto, uncomfortably. He was still thinking whether to try and help Lee or not. He still didn't know anything about him, or what he would do if his handicap was reversed. He could be as bad as that white eye, or worse. He decided to try and get to know him, at least a little bit, before he made a decision.

"You can make a solid clone, and it can even carry your lunch to you. You can create a perfect bunshin with no hand seals and no smoke, in less than a second, and you say you aren't a genius?" Lee looked incredulous. "If you aren't one, I don't know what a genius is."

"I've worked really, really hard to get to where I am now," replied Naruto, thinking of the countless hours he spent learning, training, and working. He had been using the kage bunshin no jutsu since he learned when he was six. He had been creating hundreds of them a day since he was seven, and even if it wasn't his hands that turned the pages of all those books, that wrote out all of those seals, that were torn apart from the explosions of the many, many failed experiments… he still remembered every experience as if it was alone. He knew that in addition to a complete copy of his mind, each kage bunshins carried a piece of the his soul with them, so in the ways that counted most it truly was his hard work. "I sweated, I strained, I read, I forged, I climbed and lifted and carried and worked and worked and worked, to get like this. Since I was three years old, I have been training continuously."

Lee looked shocked. Most ninjas began their schooling at age six when they entered the academy, and some didn't start until they were eight or nine. No wonder this boy was strong, he had been training for an extra three years. Lee would have been shocked to find out the truth, that Naruto had actually trained for the equivalent of hundreds of years, due to his shadow clones."I didn't know, I'm sorry if I offended you."

Naruto sighed. "You didn't offend me Lee. In fact, I respect you for carrying on in the face of adversity. When I was little, my Father told me that due to a condition I have, I would never be able to have good chakra control. I would only be able to use techniques that didn't require any control to speak of. I worked so hard, and I was able to change that, but only because there was someone there to help me, to teach me." Naruto had made his decision, even if Lee was a bad person, which he didn't seem to be, it would be cruel of him not to try and help. Besides, there was no guarantee that he would even be able to do anything for him.

"Lee, what would you do, if you could use ninjutsu?" asked Naruto softly. Lee looked him in the eyes, trying to sense if Naruto was mocking him.

"If I could use ninjutsu… I would use that ability to become a better ninja, so that I can protect Konoha, and everyone in it," he replied in an equally low voice.

"I might be able to help you, Lee. There are no guarantees, but the method I used to learn ninjutsu and genjutsu might be able to help with your problem as well." The black eyed genin looked startled, but nodded, his face lighting up.

Lee jumped to his feet, knocking the remainder of his lunch to the ground. "What training method do I have to use, Naruto-sempai?" asked the black haired boy. "Even if I have to fight a bear or run one-hundred laps around Konoha on my fingertips, I will do it!"

Naruto sighed. "It's nothing like that, Lee. First, we need to go to my house and run some tests, gather some data, and try and figure out what is happening when you try to mold chakra. Depending on what we find out, we might eventually proceed in any number of directions." Naruto was already thinking that putting Lee into the chakra analyzer to see what happens when he tried to mold chakra would be a good first step.

Lee grabbed Naruto's hand, and pulled him to his feet roughly, spilling the blonde's lunch everywhere as well. "Yosh!" cried Lee, his fist held high in the air. "Neiji, with the help of my new friend Naruto, I may yet find a way to surpass you!"

"For Science!" yelled Naruto, his own fist punching the air. He felt a little silly doing that, but he realized that he had made his first friend in Konoha.

Author's Note:

So, yeah, I've finished the third chapter of 'Rise of the Science-Nin'. I worked on it for a long while, and it turned out almost as long as the first two chapters combined. I hope to make future chapters at least this length, around 5,000 words or so. I ended up sticking Naruto into a moderately sized house out in the boonies of Konoha, he's still suffering from being antisocial for most of his life and he needs a retreat from the pressures of the big city. I tried to make it surprising that he's one year ahead of the 'usual suspects', and I thought I did a decent job. There are so few Team 10!Naruto fics, that I thought I would make this one of them. Plus, in cannon the kid failed three times… how the flying fuck did he do that if he's the same age as Sauske? I'll be Sauske would have taken the test at 8 if he could have, and passed it too; I mean, he already knew a katon jutsu by that time. If he could do that, then he could do the basic three. I absolutely love Gai and Lee as characters, they are hilarious and hard working, as well as moral people in a world filled with immorality. They can get a little annoying at times, but I plan to have Naruto tone them down quite a bit. A free _nothing_ goes to anyone who can guess who won't be on Team 10, as it's completely fucking obvious.

In the next riveting installment: Will Rock Lee be able to use ninjutsu? Will Naruto dissect Lee to find out if his humors are in alignment? Are exploding tags powered by the combustion of phlogiston? Does Tenten really have an overly clichéd crush on Neiji, as she does in almost every fanfic? Find out, in chapter 4 of 'Rise of the Science-Nin', which I haven't named yet.


	4. Chapter 4

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter IV: The Noble Green Beast of Konoha

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: _"What separates noble actions from the ignoble? What makes a man a turn into a hero or a coward in the face of danger? Why do some crumble in the face of adversity while others come through it stronger than ever? The answer is conviction. In order to be strong, you must embrace that which is precious to you, and never let it go._

For the past seven weeks Maito Gai had been visiting the training grounds at the Konoha Ninja Academy each night, in order to observe a particular student. As afternoon bled into evening, and evening into night, this student would stay longer after his peers had gone home, training his body into exhaustion. Gai could tell the boy wasn't the smartest or most creative student he had ever seen, but the child called Rock Lee had a demonstrated the single greatest talent he had ever seen for both dishing out and taking punishment. Gai had seen him strike a post over two thousand times in a single night without breaking bone or tearing ligament or tendon. He had watched Lee shatter meter-thick logs with a single, well-applied drop kick. He'd watched the boy as he pushed himself into exhaustion—and out the other side of it, catching a second wind fiercer than the first. Truly, this Lee was a hard worker.

Gai had been told that Lee couldn't use chakra, but that wasn't precisely true. According to the medical reports the young lad had a complete chakra circulatory system that was in good health. He could generate plenty of chakra to fill his coils, and had even learned how to enhance his movements using unmolded chakra; there was no other way to explain his physical prowess. And judging by the amount of time Lee could keep his chakra-enhanced movements up, Gai guessed he had enormous reserves for a genin. He wondered what was keeping Lee from being able to mold chakra, and came up with a few possible reasons in his mind. Either Lee had a problem with concentration, an unknown neurological disorder, or some other unknown reason. Seeing the boy practicing, Gai had reached the conclusion that while a few Ninjutsu and Genjutsu would make the boy a better-rounded shinobi, he would probably be best suited to be a taijutsu specialist. Gai had already decided that the boy would be earmarked for his own team, and had already cleared the choice with the Hokage. Gai also obtained special permission for Lee to bypass the ninjutsu section of the exam, as long as his other scores would allow him to pass. He had come to the training grounds today, less than three weeks from the academy's graduation exam, to introduce himself to Lee and maybe give him a few pointers on his taijutsu, however unlike every other day at the academy, there was no sign of the hard working student.

Frowning, Gai walked into the academy to see if Lee's chuunin instructor knew his whereabouts. He quickly found the correct room and stepped inside. A young looking chuunin stood up from a large desk covered in paperwork and walked toward him.

"Can I help you, Gai?" he asked. Gai smiled, showing off his unusually white, unusually large teeth. Iruka recoiled just a bit.

"Yes you can, Iruka-kun. I am looking for a student of yours, the hard working and most youthful Rock Lee! Do you perhaps know of his whereabouts?" asked Gai.

"Well, usually I would say he's training, but today he left in quite a hurry, in the company of our new transfer student, Uzumaki Naruto. I don't know where they went, though. May I ask why you are looking for him?" Iruka was curious. Lee wasn't the type to get into trouble, and he also wasn't anything special, barely scraping along in class because of his ninjutsu and genjutsu scores.

"I'm afraid I must keep my reasons to myself, Iruka-kun. However, I thank you for the information! Have a most youthful afternoon!" With that, the large man clad in green spandex disappeared in a flurry of sheer speed. Iruka sighed, and returned to grading papers.

Twenty minutes later Gai found himself a short distance from the home of the new student, Uzumaki Naruto, having searched every other place he could think of. He had almost decided to come back and talk to Lee tomorrow, but he was curious. Lee had never been in the company of other students after school before. He came upon a small sized cottage, outside of which sat the new student, relaxing on the porch stoop. Gai met his gaze, and realized that the boy showed no sign of being startled. It was a little disconcerting to think someone who wasn't yet a genin had been able to track him when he was being somewhat stealthy. He smiled, and walked up to the boy.

Naruto stood as he approached, an inquisitive look on his face. Gai spoke, "Hello, my name is Maito Gai, jounin of Konohagakure no Sato. Uzumaki Naruto, I presume?" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "You would be correct, Maito-san. What brings you to my home today?" The boy's face was mostly blank, the jounin realized. Gai wondered if he was naturally like this, or if he was just taking the older man's measure before revealing emotion.

"I am looking for an academy student called Rock Lee. I wished to speak with him today and I could not locate him at the academy training grounds where he usually is. Iruka-kun said he was last seen in your company, and I could not find him elsewhere, so I was hoping he was here. It doesn't look like he is, since you are out here, but do you know where he went?"

Naruto broke into a slight grin. "He is actually here, inside. I'm not the true Naruto, but a shadow clone. Go inside, and please take a seat in the sitting room. I'll disperse now to let the Boss know someone is here." Gai gaped slightly as the clone disappeared in a burst of smoke. Whoever this Uzumaki kid was, he was _good_. No genin, let alone an academy student, should be able to use shadow clones. It was a very taxing jutsu, one that even Gai didn't know, despite his elite jounin status. Shaking his head from side to side slowly, the Noble Beast entered Naruto's home, stepping into a small and cozy living room, furnished with cheap, comfortable looking furniture. Gai sat down in an armchair, waiting for his prospective student to appear. It wouldn't do to go tromping through someone else's home looking for him, after all.

"Anything yet, Naruto-kun?" asked lee, who was encased up to his neck in the strange machine his new fried had called a chakra analyzer. For the last hour and a half, Naruto had instructed him to attempt jutsu after jutsu, and he was eager to learn the results.

"I think we have enough information, Lee. You can get out now." Lee smiled, and Naruto flipped a switch, which caused the machine to open up, allowing Lee to exit. The grateful boy stepped down from the now-open platform, stretching his arms and legs wearily.

Naruto sat in front of a computer terminal a few feet away from the chakra analyzer, concentrating on the graphs that had been generated. "I think I understand why you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, Lee." The black-eyed bow looked startled, then excited. Words failing him, he motioned the other boy to continue using his hand. "These are reading I took from myself and my father doing a simple henge, as well as yours. Do you see the differences?" Naruto helpfully pointed to three places on various graphs.

Lee examined the computer screen for a few moments. "I think I see it, Naruto-kun. On the graphs labeled "EEG, MRI, and CKMLD, spikes appear on yours and your fathers, but not mine. Everything else looks similar, though. What does this mean?"

Naruto sighed. "What it means, Lee, that something in your brain that usually happens when people mold chakra, isn't happening when you try to mold it. I watched you very closely, and your hand seals were textbook perfect. You even manage to expel un-molded chakra from the correct tenketsu. I'm not a medic, so I have no clue what is causing this, but I doubt it's something that can be fixed. As you are now, there's no chance that you could ever perform ninjutsu or genjutsu on your own." Naruto was about to continue when he heard a loud sniff. He looked away from his monitor and at Lee, who was now crying, tears running down his cheeks.

"So, I'll never be able to use it… Thank you Naruto-kun, for at least telling me what is wrong." Lee started to turn away.

"Lee, no! That's not what I meant. I have an invention, that I use all the time. I can't say for certain, but you should be able to use it to mold chakra for jutsu." Lee's crying stopped as fast as it had started, the gi-clad boy looking at him in amazement.

"Naruto-san… you can do that? You really have an invention which can allow me to mold chakra, even despite my condition?" Naruto smiled and nodded, his hand scratching the back of his head.

"It should work… though your will have to be different than mine. Unrefined chakra is coming out of your tenketsu, so I will have to add a new fuuin to refine it, before it gets processed by a jutsu matrix, which will add one extra step. That might shave a pico-second or two off the casting time, but that shouldn't matter. You haven't done the tenketsu-specific control exercise I've done either, so it will be impossible for you to use them seal-less at first, but I can incorporate my half-seal translators easily enough. Creating a full armor before the graduation exams would be completely impossible, even with one-thousand shadow clones working on it, but at set of gauntlets or gloves with the proper fuuin embedded would only take me an hour or two at most. They wouldn't be durable, but they would work." Naruto lost himself in his planning, and didn't notice his new friends eyes grow wider and wider with each word. But the time he was finished talking (mostly to himself), lee's eyes were reduced to comical swirls, trying to follow what Naruto was explaining. The blond-haired boy quickly created a dozen shadow clones, with instructions to whip up a quick and dirty set of jointed metal and leather gloves in order to test his ideas. He turned back to Lee, who was still looking at him in bewilderment.

"I'll have a prototype ready in an hour or so. Would to like to stay for dinner, Lee? My clones always cook something tasty." Suddenly, Naruto looked to the top of the stairs, startled. The shadow clone guarding the front of him home had just dispersed, sending him the memories of its conversation with Gai. "Lee, a jounin just arrived upstairs. He wants to talk to you."

Lee looked surprised, "A jounin? How did you know, Naruto-san?" Lee hadn't yet recovered from the surprised before, and this new information startled him even further.

"One of my shadow clones let me know. We should go and see what he wants, I'm sure there's a good reason."

The two walked up the long flight of stairs and through the kitchen into the living room. There they met Gai, who was sitting in one of the easy chairs that had been provided with the house. The green-clad jounin smiled at the two boys, who quickly took seats as the older ninja showed no inclination of getting up.

"Hello, my name is Maito Gai. It's nice to meet you Lee-san, Naruto-san. I'm here to speak to Lee about the upcoming genin tests. It's nothing bad; rather, I would like to offer my assistance and possibly help you prepare for the examination."

Lee smiled, "While I am flattered, may I ask why a high ranking shinobi like yourself would be interested in helping someone like myself?" asked Lee. He needed to be cautious here; once a chuunin instructor had told him he give him private lessons, only to never show up, humiliating the young taijutsu user.

Gai smiled, partially blinding the two students. "Lee! I have observed you training for weeks now, and have been very impressed with your skills. I no that you cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu, but I still believe you can become a wonderful ninja. You have impressed me enough that I would like to be your jounin team leader if you can pass the exams!" As he had been speaking, Gai's voice rose in volume until he was nearly yelling, frightening Naruto with his intensity. He finished his speech with another luminescent smile and a thumbs-up.

"Yosh! Gai-sensei, I accept your tutelage. I will definitely pass the genin exams with the help of yourself and my new friend Uzumaki Naruto!" Gai looked at the blond child, studying him intently. It was only one day so far, and he made this much of an impression on Lee? Maybe Naruto was a taijutsu user as well.

"Ah, the flames of youth," he said, by way of a reply to Lee. "Let them burn brightly, my new student." Lee's smile grew even larger. Gai was still curious about Naruto, though. "Naruto-san, seeing as Lee has become my new student, may I ask what you are helping him with, so that we can take care not to duplicate our efforts?"

Naruto looked surprised, then shrugged. It's not like his chakra armor would remain a secret for long, as he planned on opening up a storefront before too long. He knew that soon the elite of Konoha would be clamoring to trade their money, and maybe other concessions, for his armor, so a bit of early advertising wouldn't hurt. "I'm a crafter of chakra armor. I've designed a type of chakra armor that not only enhances chakra techniques, but also allows for automatic ninjutsu and genjutsu casting using fuuinjutsu arrays. I believe that I can modify the fuuinjutsu work to allow Lee to cast ninjutsu and genjutsu, but we are still experimenting. I have some clones building a prototype proof-of-concept device, which should be ready in a little while."

Gai looked shocked. His friend and eternal rival Hatake Kakashi had told him about his run-in with the ninja of Yuki no Kuni who used the fabled chakra armor, and the strength it gave them. To meet someone capable of making that armor… this Naruto was of incalculable worth to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "Naruto-san, that is nothing short of amazing. Are you originally from the Land of Snow, then, to have learned such a skill?"

Naruto smiled, he found himself liking this eccentric ninja. "Up until a few weeks ago, I have never left Yuki no Kuni. It's only my first day here in Konoha, but I've already experienced so much and met so many people. I've even made a new friend. Things truly are faster paced here in the south. Even if Konoha is the place I was born, I'm still finding it a little hard to adjust."

Gai was very impressed with this young man, if he could truly do the things he claimed. Even if he was only an apprentice at crafting chakra armor, he was an asset worth his weight is diamond. Perhaps, if Naruto's style of combat meshed with his and Lee's, he could gain a second member for his genin squad. He would have to learn more about Naruto first, though, to see what his character was like.

"Naruto-kun, if you don't mind, would you like me to tutor you a bit as well tonight? I am a taijutsu specialist, so if you would like any pointers in that art I can help. It might just be for this one session, but it would allow you to get some extra training." Gai of course expected Naruto to instantly agree. A jounin offering to train an academy student was rare, and was a sought-after commodity.

"Sure, that would be great, Maito-san. Since you are training me, would you like to have dinner first? My clones should be almost finished preparing it." Gai agreed immediately, he had been able to smell it cooking since he had arrived, and the food certainly smelled delicious.

Naruto's clone soon let him know that the food was done. The three ninja seated themselves at the dining room table where they were served a feast of Indian food by Naruto's clones, which had decided on their own to henge their clothes into tuxedos, much to the amusement of the three ninjas. Over dinner they had some light conversation. "Since we will be spending time together, why don't you two tell me more about yourselves? What you enjoy doing, your favorite book, or something like that?" asked Gai.

Lee went first, "Well, you both know my name, so there is no point in repeating it. I enjoy training, and I'm currently learning to ride the unicycle. My favorite book is "Where the Red Fern Grows", by Wilson Rawls. I currently live in a single room apartment near the academy due to my status as an orphan. I hope I can become much stronger by working together."

Naruto spoke next, "Uzumaki Naruto. My passion is to discover new things, and to create inventions that work different from anything else, to find out how the universe works. To that end, I have worked very hard to become a master in the field of fuuinjutsu, and a master chakra engineer. The next fields of study I would like to learn about are biology and medicine, but as there was no adequate teacher in Yuki no Kuni I have had to wait to learn these subjects. Outside of science, I enjoy calligraphy, mountain climbing, and spelunking, or exploring caves. My favorite books outside of science and fuuinjutsu texts are "Go Rin no Sho", the book of five rings written by Miyamoto Mushashi, and "The Art of War", by Sun Tzu." Feeling that he had given sufficient information, the golden haired boy returned to his meal.

The three of them finished their meals after a short while, both of them complimenting him on the food his clones had made. It turned out that both of them were big fans of Indian food. Gai led the way to a training area not far from Naruto's property. After finding out that both boys were at least low-chuunin level in speed, they were able to get there in less than five minutes. Gai explained that before they started, he wanted to see where each of them were in their taijutsu skills. Lee stepped forward, eager to prove himself.

The spar lasted less than two minutes, but Naruto could tell that his new friend had been holding back heavily during their spars at the academy earlier that day, just as he himself had been doing. Lee attacked first, knowing that he would have no chance if Gai went on the offensive. The academy student rocketed forward; fist extended in the classis Konoha-academy style taijutsu he had been taught. His execution was flawless, and his speed very impressive. Naruto guessed that Lee would be a match for quite a few chuunin, at least high C ranked. Lee still didn't manage to land a single blow on Gai, but he was able to use his speed to dodge and deflect quite a few of the older man's attacks. Naruto could tell the jounin was holding back a lot, but it was a spar after all. Finally, after he had learned all he needed to know, Gai simply stopped, ending the spar. There was no need to hurt or embarrass his new student, after all.

"Very good, Lee-kun. I can tell that you have been training very hard. In fact, when I was your age my taijutsu wasn't half as good. Naruto-kun, it's your turn now. Please remember, this is a taijutsu only spar, so please don't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu. Show me the full extent of your skills." Naruto nodded his acceptance and stepped forward, throwing his brown cloak to the ground. Both of the other ninjas realized that Naruto's entire body below his chin was covered in a metallic, flexible looking armor that shimmered a light blue. There was a LCD panel and a long thin slot on his right are, and several small tubes ringing his left. Both fists were encased in flexible looking metal gauntlets that merged with his sleeves. There was a large neckpiece ringing the top of his armor, and as they both watched, a black bubble-like helmet rose from it, completely encasing the blond in chakra armor. They could see no longer see any trace of his head or skin.

Gai was a little leery of Naruto's armor. He had heard the stories about how it enhanced every faucet of chakra use, from jutsu to physical movements, damage, and damage-resistance. While he was reflecting, Naruto shot forward, a metallic blue and black blur. Shocked, Gai slid out of the way, lashing out at the boy's chest with a high kick. Naruto dodged to the side at the last moment, moving forward to take advantage of Gai's shift in balance. Gai back flipped, righting himself, and met Naruto's forward charge with a chakra-enhanced fist to his head. Naruto stumbled backward from the force of the blow, and Gai felt like his knuckles were on fire. If he hadn't been reinforcing his bones with chakra they would have shattered from the hardness of the helmet. While he was startled, Naruto took advantage of the older man's lapse in concentration to dive forward onto the ground, sliding into Gai's shins and ankles in an attempt to knock him over. Gai felt the waves of chakra coming off of the blonde, and knew he would fall or be thrown backward if he was hit, and fearing for his toes, he skated backward, preparing to deliver a body slam onto the grounded boy. Before he could, however, the blond was on his feet, crouched low, preparing for what looked like an upper cut. Gai, seeing several flaws in his stance, moved in close for a half-powered gut punch. Gai's fist met the lower ribbing of the boy's armor at the same time as Naruto's fist met Gai's neck. Being a taijutsu, Gai quickly hardened his skin and bone with chakra, avoiding most of the damage from the blow, but it still stung. Such a blow would have crushed most Nin's necks. Next, Gai intentionally left himself open, to see what Naruto would do. Most shinobi would use such an opportunity to pull out one of their bigger damage-dealing moves, and he wanted to see what this boy was capable of. As it was, Gai could tell that he was already at least B ranked in taijutsu, due to his speed, the incredible hardness of his armor, and the unpredictability of his style. Gai doubted he would be able to beat the blond unless he took him seriously, which he was unwilling to do against an academy student, or in a spar. He didn't have to wait long for Naruto's technique. He surged forward, at least twice as fast as before, and leaped into the air. A two-foot sword blade slid from the long horizontal slot on his right arm, glowing with chakra. The blond began to spin in mid air, almost faster than the eye could follow. Gai's eyes widened, as he sent a surge of chakra to the weights on his legs. As Naruto flew through the spot he was occupying less than a second before, Gai disappeared in a blur, appearing behind the blond student, and tapped him on the shoulder. Naruto's sword retracted, and his helmet came down.

"As I suspected, I was no match for you," said the blond with a smile. "At the end, you were at least half as fast as Father." Gai stored this information, not wanting to think about it at the moment. "You did very well, Naruto-kun. Even going all out, I think I would have some trouble with you. May I ask what your style is called? I don't think I have seen it before." Gai was thinking that this boy was seriously impressive. If his ninjutsu and genjutsu were half as good as his taijutsu, he would be at least a B ranked threat. He was extraordinarily powerful for a person of his age.

"Its called fubiki-do, the way of the snow storm. It's the sole original taijutsu style of Yuki no Kuni, created through seven generations of trial and error. Because we have only one taijutsu style and ninja's bodies vary so much, there are over two hundred katas. The user picks twenty or thirty katas that best suit them, and then develops these movements into their own style, using the broad guidelines of the art." He paused, frowning slightly, "Because taijutsu is currently my weak area, I currently spend a lot of time training in it." Explained the boy from Snow Country.

Gai was startled by Naruto's last comment. If taijutsu was truly his weak area, then how strong was he? He decided then and there to have words with the Hokage. He hated to admit it since he believed with all of his soul that a ninja should work their way up the ranks and advance slowly over time, but becoming a genin and doing D ranked missions would be a waste for young Naruto. Promotions were usually done based on merit and performance, not power level, but based on what he'd seen Gai would swear that this boy could mop the floor with any chuunin he knew, and most of the jounin, and that was only when he was using taijutsu, which he admitted was one of his worst skills.

"Naruto... What level would you say your ninjutsu and genjutsu are?" asked Gai, curiosity in his voice. Naruto cocked his head to the side in consideration.

"I don't really know, Gai-sensei. I'm pretty good at genjutsu, though I only know about ninety techniques. I'm also immune to genjutsu when my helmet is up, due to the chakra field that surrounds my body. Of the three main shinobi arts, Ninjutsu is definitely my strong point. I know about six hundred techniques, though I mostly confine myself to using two hundred of my favorites," finished Naruto.

Gai looked flabbergasted. Some part of his mind was beginning to suspect this boy was an enemy spy, but he was so honest and forthcoming that it was unlikely. He still needed to speak with the Hokage, however.

As Gai was ruminating and Naruto and Lee were discussing their spars, a Naruto clone rushed up carrying a package in its hands. Upon arriving it handed the package to Lee, gave him a grin, and then dispersed. As Lee was opening the package, Naruto felt the other clones that worked on the projects disperse as well, giving him the full memories on its creation. Lee pulled out a pair of gauntlets; somewhat similar the ones Naruto wore, but dull silver color rather than a metallic blue.

"Go ahead and put them on, Lee, then try channeling some chakra to your hands." Gai watched with interest as Lee did so. Two seals glowed blue as he did so. The gauntlets, previously somewhat loose, suddenly shrunk to fit his hands perfectly. Gai and Lee both looked impressed as the small mass-energy seal array performed its function.

Lee flexed his hands, moving each finger joint to insure that they worked properly and gave him a full range of motion. The gauntlets almost felt like they were a part of his hands. "These fit very well, Naruto-san. Fuuinjutsu truly is an amazing art."

"Well, that's the least of their abilities. I engraved a chakra refining seal into them, as well as fuuins for henge, kawarimi, and the regular bunshin, including one handed seal translators. If you channel your unrefined chakra to your hands and make the proper seals, the seals should be able to handle the rest. Try the bunshin first, since it requires the least amount of chakra. Make sure to get a good fell for how much energy each technique takes, so you know your limit. One of the main downsides to this method is if you activate a fuuin that is in contact with your skin and you don't have enough chakra to use it, it can drain you until you die," explained the young jinchurikki.

Lee nodded his head in understanding, and then got a look of concentration on his face. He went through the hand-seals for the clone technique at a medium speed, then yelled out "Bunshin no jutsu!" Suddenly, without any smoke to obscure them, were four identical Lees where there had been but one. "I did it! Gai-sensei, Naruto-san! I performed a ninjutsu!" Lee's face was a mask of excitement, stretched into a mile-wide grin. He did a little dance in happiness, which his clones dutifully mimicked. His boisterous excitement slowly tapered off, until he stood before the other two ninja, now reasonably calm again.

Naruto spoke, "Lee, you should try the other two techniques, then I'll show you the one-handed seal that activated the translators I installed. Don't worry if you don't get kawarimi or henge right the first time, both techniques usually require a lot of practice on visualizing their effects. The seals will make them much easier than normal, but you will have to supply the direction for them with your mind."

Gai stepped forward, "While I am not an expert on ninjutsu, you might want to try the kawarimi at first, Lee. It's the first technique taught to any ninja, because it's the most useful, and when battling enemy shinobi, it's often the most used. When you make the seals, try to imagine switching with that log over there; the caretakers in charge of maintaining this training ground usually leave quite a few logs lying around just for this purpose."

"I'll try my best, Gai-sensei!" said the hotheaded youth. Lee quickly ran through the seals for kawarimi, focusing his willpower into a white-hot need to quickly change places with the log Gai had indicated. As soon as the last seal had been completed, Lee and the log were suddenly gone. Exactly 0.79623 seconds later (Naruto had timed it, and it was exactly the same every time), the log appeared where Lee had been, and the black haired boy took the place of the log. Lee whooped in pleasure, running back to his two compatriots. "It worked! Thank you for this amazing gift, Naruto-san!"

Naruto smiled, he was glad that his new friend was happy. "You're welcome Lee. As for the henge… You'll need a mirror and lots of practice for that one. It's not something that you can perform correctly on the first try, as it's entirely dependant on your visualization. I would suggest you pick one form at a time, and concentrate on that, until you get a good grasp on the technique. By the way, how do your chakra levels feel after those two jutsus?"

"I feel perfectly normal, I hardly felt those techniques use any of my chakra reserve. I think I could cast them many, many times with no problem," replied Lee. He had thought ninjutsu would take a lot out of him, but it really wasn't that draining. The three Bunshin he made took about as much chakra as one of his chakra-enhanced punches, of which he could perform thousands, and the kawarimi took about as much chakra as one minute of using chakra to reinforce his skin, which he could keep up for a few hours. "I guess all the practice I have using unrefined chakra to strengthen my taijutsu made my reserves larger," said Lee.

Naruto nodded, it made sense. Sustained fighting while using chakra enhancements was one of the best and easiest ways to grow your reserves, though it did almost nothing for control, as it done using un-molded chakra.

Gai took this time to speak, "Well my youthful students… I must get going. I will diligently work to come up with some training exercises in order to improve both of your taijutsu techniques. If you would like, I will meet you both at this training ground after your classes at the academy, for continued training. I feel there is much I can teach both of you." Gai smiled widely and gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up, then used the shunshin no jutsu to disappear in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto smiled at his friend. "I'm going to start working on a complete set of chakra-armor for you, Lee. I can do a pretty good job of customizing it, seeing as I have all of your readings from my chakra analyzer, and I'll a melee-weapon module and toughness enhancers since you're a taijutsu user. I'll also gear the techniques I etch into toward your specialty. Even if I dedicate a hundred clone to it a day, it will take at least three months, so until them please make due with those gauntlets. I'll etch a few more fuuin into them tomorrow or the next day so you can get some practice. Don't worry about paying me anything, I need more practice anyway. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll find some way to get even with me."

Lee froze up, looking shocked. "You would do that for me?" The young taijutsu user had though his friend would demand some form of payment for the gauntlets alone, and he once the first technique succeeded Lee was willing to give the young scientist all of his savings plus all of his mission earning for the next year by way of payment. In less than a day, the entire course of his life had been changed, drastically for the better in his opinion. "I know that this armor is special, it is so powerful… Surely you could get a fortune for it. Why are you willing to make it for someone like me for free?"

Naruto frowned. "Lee, I am going to open up a shop in the next couple of weeks. The first chakra armor I sell will net me more money than most jounin make in five years of doing A and B rank missions. I don't need money, and I like to do nice things for people. Besides, I want to see what kind of ninja you can become. I expect to see great things from you." Naruto stopped, "Besides, I think that jounin, Gai, wants both of us on his team, and naturally I want to have the strongest team mate possible. Once I know for sure who is on my genin team, I'm going to offer all of them a chakra armor. I came back to Konoha to share my skills, and so that is what I'll do."

Author's Note:

Another chapter released, just a bit of character development, a little plot movement, and some of Naruto's skills revealed. Try not to be harsh on the boy for telling Gai so much… He wouldn't have if he didn't trust him, and this Naruto is an excellent judge of character. Besides, he is more researcher and engineer than ninja, really. His battle prowess is mostly an offshoot of his incredible thirst for knowledge. Sort of like an anti-Orochimaru.

Lee is now able to use the basic academy techniques, though there is still a learning curve involved. He should have a complete chakra armor soon enough to get used to it before the first major story arc, so never fear, though it will take him a long time before he will be able to use all of the jutsus Naruto is going to engrave into it. He'll technically be able to use them as soon as he learns the hand seals, but that doesn't mean he knows their effects, nuances, and how to use them tactically, or even how much of his chakra they eat, which can easily lead to death if he's not careful. Naruto's got a monster made up of trillions of exo-joules of energy sealed in his stomach, which he can tap for power any time he wants, which means he could doesn't even feel it when he uses chakra, unlike any other user of the armor. He doesn't even have to mold the chakra himself, which makes chakra exhaustion impossible for him. He still knows how to do most of his techniques manually, but he never does, as the only time he has his armor off is to quickly shower or service it. He's dependant on the armor, but any way you look at it, its strengths overwhelmingly obliterate its weaknesses.

Look for more of this crazy story sometime next week, or maybe not. I might get a hair up my ass to write, or I might not. For those Tenten lovers out there, fear not. She will feature much more heavily in the next few chapters. I've actually named the next chapter this time, so look for: Rise of the Science-Nin Chapter V: Genin Daze. You can infer from the title the content of the next chapter, I hope.


	5. Chapter 5

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter 4.5: Little shop of Horrors

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: _"When the shit hits the fan, run."_

The early morning sun shown from beyond the horizon, and the smell of dew was in the air. It was just after dawn. Naruto whistled a jaunty little tune as he unlocked the door to his new shop, and several dozen of his clones followed behind him, each one carrying several enormous sealing scrolls containing the inventory he planned to stock his new store with. He had spent the last two day renovating the medium sized building (with the help of his shadow clones, of course) and today it would finally be ready to open. All he had to do now was stock the shelves with his wares and put an 'open' sign in the window.

As he walked into the showroom, he flipped on the light switch. Bright fluorescent lights filled the room, supplementing the natural light from the large show window. His new building was in the heart of the market district, and has cost his almost all of the money he had brought with him to Konoha to purchase and furnish. It was about two-thousand square feet, including the stockroom and office in the back, and a small one-room apartment on the second floor. The apartment was separate from the main building, and only accessible from a set of stairs outside. He had no use for the apartment since the Hokage had given him a house, but he thought he might rent it out if he found a reliable tenant. The showroom itself was around 900 square feet, more than enough to show the products he intended to sell. Most of his clones headed for the storeroom to begin unsealing the large store of items that wouldn't fit in the main store, and a smaller number began unsealing everything meant for the public's eye. Rows of kunai, shuriken, senbon needles, and droves of other weapons were placed on shelves and hung from the walls. All of the weapons he was selling were special; every one of them had numerous fuuinjutsu arrays etched into them, making them stronger, sharper, and much more durable. As long as they were infused with a very small amount of chakra every few months, they would be practically indestructible. That was just the basic package which went on everything. Many of the weapons had custom seals on them, allowing them to do anything from burst into flames with an infusion of chakra to exploding on a timer. He had been looking at other weapons shops in Konoha, and none of them were offering anything like the weapons he was selling. As soon as the word got out about the shop, he expected to be flooded with customers.

The weapons were just icing on the cake; day to day stuff that would sell quickly and net him a little extra cash. His real business was going to be selling chakra armors. His clones were already busy unsealing wooden mannequins carved from Snow Country hardwood, and hanging sets of display armor on them. They were real chakra armors of several different types, specialized for different aspects of ninja combat. There were pure defensive armors, flexible "jutsu" armor, designed to maximize the power of ninjutsu, and many other types. There was also a large tome which Naruto had written that would act as the catalog for his business. It listed every option he was willing to integrate into the armors he sold, and the prices for doing so. Many of his best tricks he kept for himself, but any armor he crafted would be formidable.

It only took his clones around thirty minutes to unload everything and finish setting up the shop, as Naruto sat behind the counter sipping the strong brown tea he had grown accustomed to in Snow Country. As the final touch, he himself walked outside and hung a carved wooden sign from a pole jutting out above his door, proclaiming his shop to be "Kousetsu no Kame", or "The Snow Turtle". There was a picture of a solid white turtle on the sign, clad in chakra armor and holding a sword and a shield in either hand. Below the title and picture were the words "Fine Armor and Weapons". Naruto had made the sign himself, and was proud of both the picture and the name; art was a minor hobby of his and he didn't get the chance to practice it that often. With a smile on his face, he flipped the sign on the door from "closed" to "open", and walked inside.

It took almost thirty minutes before he got his first customer. It was the Sandaime of course; No one else yet knew about his shop. When he first arrived in Konoha the Third Hokage wanted to let the council know about his skills as a chakra engineer, but his father had put his foot down, and insisted that Naruto be allowed to make his own way and open his own business at his leisure. Sarutobi had dutifully followed his old friend's wishes, and had agreed to keep the existence of Naruto's plans quiet until he opened his shop. Naturally, though, he wasn't going to miss the opportunity to be the boy's first customer.

"Good day, Hokage-sama," said Naruto, smiling at the aged shinobi, "What can I help you with today?" Sarutobi smiled back, his eyes taking in the various displays.

"Good morning, my boy. A fine shop you have here, everything looks top notch." Sarutobi was examining a kunai as he said this. Naruto smiled, and nodded. He didn't need to be told how good his work was; he was a master of his craft after all. "I would like to commission a set of chakra armor for myself. Could you tell me a little about them, so I know what variety to choose?" He pointed to the mannequins displaying the different types. "These all look so dissimilar to each other."

Naruto pulled out his catalog, and sat it on the counter facing away from him. He pulled out a second stool so the aged Hokage could sit down. "Well, the first step is to identify what type of ninja you are so that we can tailor a set of armor to your needs. First, what area of ninja techniques do you specialize in, if any?"

"Ninjutsu and bojutsu are my greatest strengths, though I'm a master in every major ninja field. In my old age I tend to favor ninjutsu, as I'm not as quick or limber as I used to be."

Naruto nodded. "You're a summoner, right? The Ape contract, if I recall correctly?" Sarutobi grinned, nodding. It was no secret that he was the holder of that particular contract. "In that case," said the blond storekeeper, "You'll need an option with either a blood reservoir in the hand of the suit, or a needle embedded into one of the gauntlets to draw it out of your finger one demand…" The two discussed the various options the suit would have for nearly thirty minutes, and then Sarutobi followed a shadow clone to the back room to be scanned by the chakra analyzer, and get his physical dimensions recorded so a set of armor could be fitted to him exactly. With all of the options and upgrades Sarutobi had selected, his armor would be among the most powerful that Naruto would ever make. It would also be among the most costly.

The leader of the Leaf left a deposit for twenty-five percent of the final cost of the armor, and just like that, Naruto had recouped the entire cost of the money he had set setting up his shop, plus a lot extra. The final fee the Hokage would pay him would pay for his operating costs for his new business for years to come.

Two hours later, Naruto was swamped. He had to create an additional three dozen shadow clones to speak with all of the clients in his shop, almost all of whom were ANBU, a special division of Konoha shinobi dedicated to serving the Hokage directly. Several of them had mentioned that Sarutobi had referred them to his shop, so this insane rush was all the old man's fault. Clones ran back and forth rapidly, taking orders and measurements, and there was a line several feet long of people waiting to go through the chakra analyzer. Naruto was thankful that this was one of the few days off he received from the academy; There was no way he was going to be able to make it to class at this point if it was a school day. As they took orders, his clones dispersed, and Naruto wrote the details down from behind the counter. A clone in the back room stored the information from the chakra analyzer for later retrieval. He had found out from several of the ANBU that because of their positions as village security, the Konoha treasury was paying half the cost for each of their chakra armors. Realizing that the longer they waited, the longer it would take to get an armor crafted, almost half of Konoha's special ops had come to his shop on the opening day to place their orders. From the deposits alone, Naruto was rich several times over.

All-in-all, it had taken over six hours to get all of the orders taken for the ANBU who had visited his shop. There had been a total of forty-six sets of armor commissioned, and many of those were deluxe models. His clones had a lot of work ahead of them. Naruto had ducked out for lunch at around noon, leaving another dozen shadow clones in his place. He had realized about halfway through the morning that there was no way he would be able to run the shop with a single shadow clone as he had been originally planning. He would have to create fifty or more each day if the volume of business remained the same. He also planned to use one of his new ideas in order to insure there were no problems at the shop. Groups of shadow clones were easy to destroy using low-level area of effect attacks, and he would be damned if some punk tried to rob him while he was at school, or later on a mission. He planned to let one of his shadow clones use chakra armor, giving it an enormous boost in its resiliency. It would take at least a jounin to take down one of his clones wearing chakra armor, Naruto thought. Smiling, he set his clones to cleaning up his business and restocking the shelves in preparation for tomorrow. It had been one hell of a grand opening.

Author's Note:

Here's a chapter-let for all of you. I am in the process of writing chapter 5, however I needed to take a break so I made the grand opening of Naruto's store its own chapter. He's decided to do all of his advertising through word of mouth, as he knows that people love "discovering" a shop or restaurant, as it makes them feel like they are keeping some amusing secret. I hope to have the next full chapter done sometime soon, and I hope this will tide you over for a bit. I want to ask a serious question as well… Originally I wasn't going to concentrate on pairings, but as one of my readers pointed out, what really is tying Naruto to Konoha? A partial answer is that he's serving the village he was born in, where his parents were from, and where his father ruled. A big part of why he's in Konoha is to try and figure out who his birth parents really were, to try to get to know them as much as an orphan can know his deceased mother and father. I think, though, that he needs another reason to stay after all of that is said and done. I've already given him a friend in Rock Lee… Should I give him a major love interest? And if I do so, who should it be? There are really only a few females in canon that I think my flavor of Naruto would work with; Tenten, because she is his teammate, Karin, because she is brilliant and a fellow researcher, Fem!Haku, for reasons better left un-discussed for now, and Kin, because she is cute and such a mystery. So, yeah, share your ideas with me on this matter, and if you think a pairing would help the story suggest one of the afore mentioned characters. Thanks, and please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter V: Genin Daze

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: _"What is a weapon? A kunai? A Shuriken? A Chakra Armor? No. Those are merely pieces of metal, incapable of any autonomous action. Ninja are weapons, and their purpose is to protect. Never forget that."_

Naruto sat stock-still, as did most of his cohort. It was finally time, and he was more nervous than he though he would be, by far. On either side of him sat the two people he had grown closest to over the past three weeks, Rock Lee and Ten-Ten. Upon questioning, the girl had admitted to Naruto that she had been given no last name, as was apparently a common practice for unidentified orphans in Fire Country. It seemed a bit cruel to the gentle-natured Jinchurikki.

He was not quite as close to Ten-Ten as he was to Rock Lee, not having had a major bonding experience like he did with the round-eyed boy, but they had become friends nonetheless. She had also opened up a little more to Lee after he showed her what he could do with Taijutsu. They shared a mutual respect now, each being the master of their particular field in the classroom, save for Naruto, who was closer to Jounin level in both Taijutsu and marksmanship. Having never had a friend his own age, Naruto found it quite satisfying. Also, there was something else—he wasn't quite sure of it, but he thought he might be developing a something a little beyond friendship for the bun-headed girl. It was too soon to tell, though, and there was also the problem of Ten-Ten crush on that ass, Neji. Apparently many of the girls in their class felt that way about him, despite his condescending attitude.

Naruto made a special effort in the two spars they had had to try to correct his bad behavior though judicious use of physical violence, but despite crushing the boy in taijutsu his attitude had not improved in the slightest. The blonde haired chakra engineer snorted. It didn't matter; someday that fool would learn his lesson. As Iruka started to speak, he quickly pulled himself out of his musing—it was finally time. Most of the names had already been announced, after all.

"Team 9: Rock Lee, Uzumaki Naruto, and Ten-Ten! Your Jounin Instructor is Maito Gai. Team 10 is still in service. Team 11…" Naruto quit paying attention and smiled, as did his two new teammates. He was on a team with his friends!

The Blonde Hokage-spawn vaguely noted at the end of Iruka's speech Hyuuga Neji had not been assigned to a team for some reason… And the boy didn't seem in the least bit surprised. He vaguely wondered why, but quickly put it out of his mind. He was still excited about officially becoming a ninja.

EiEiEiEiEiEiO

That evening, Naruto lay in bed after taking a hot shower, his chakra armor comfortably hugging his skin. He didn't take it off, even to sleep. After all, he never knew when he would need it, and it required at least three minutes to put it on correctly, an eternity in battle. He slowly recounted his afternoon, after his team met up with Gai-sensei…

"Yosh!" said the Beautiful Green Beast. "Today, you will all prove to me that you can act as a team… Or you will return to the academy!"

The three genin flinched, not expecting this, though Naruto understood why teamwork would be needed; after-all there was no such thing as a ninja who worked alone under the rank of Jounin.

"What do we need to do, Gai-sensei?" asked Ten-Ten. Naruto glanced over at her while she talked, feeling that indescribable something again. She was just too cute.

"You shall pass a test of my own devising! You must prove your Youthfulness and Will of Fire by…" he paused dramatically, his enormous eyebrows quivering dramatically, finger raised in the air, "…Running a four-legged race against me, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha!"

Naruto wondered if this was some sort of Hi no Kuni thing, but the bewildered looks his teammates sported belied that thought. Naturo sighed. Gai may be the premiere taijutsu master in Konoha, but there was no getting around his bizarre nature. Naruto has also been concerned with his reverence of "Youth" at first, until the man's actions had proven that he was not some sort of bizarre pedophile. Still, this "four-legged race" needed an explanation.

"Err… What do you mean by a four-legged race, Gai-sensei? Asked Naruto, confusion evident in his voice. Gai smiled wildly, and produced two short lengths of rope from seemingly nowhere.

"I will show you, Naruto-kun! Stand up my students!" shouted the over exuberant jounin. The three newly minted genin complied, and watched bewildered as Gai slowed approached, and mind-blurringly fast, tied the ropes around their legs. When he was finished, Naruto's right leg was tied to Ten-Ten's left, and his left leg was tied to Lee's right. They, indeed, now had four legs. Naruto notices that the weights that Lee had been wearing for the last few weeks had also been discarded by Gai.

"Yosh!" screamed Gai, "Now, I will also limit myself to four legs!" With that, the leotarded Nin pulled off his sandals, rolled up the sleeves of his garment and his leg-warmers, and go onto all fours, in a strange parody of an animal. His posterior stuck high into the air, and trotting awkwardly over to Lee's weights, he picked them up with his mouth and slung them onto his back where they lied immobile. Naruto suspected the man was holding them on with chakra.

It was all the three genin could do not to laugh uproariously at the partially-insane man. A few snorts and chuckles did escape. Gai marked a starting line with his nose, and stood behind it with them.

"The first team to make it to the front gate, and then back to this line WINS!" he cried. "On the count of three! Ichi! Ni! San! GO!" he called, and then took off like a shot. Galloping on all fours like an idiot, Gai was still faster than most chuunin.

Naruto, Lee, and Ten-Ten did their best to follow. None of them had every competed in a three-legged race, of anything along those lines, but they were well trained ninjas with incredible balance. They managed at first not to fall, then began a slow run. By the time Gai was beyond their sight, they were traveling fairly fast, at least the speed of a regular academy student, and they only accelerated from there. Ten-Ten was the weak link in this test, being the slowest member, and honestly Naruto wished she had been tied in the middle so the two speed-demons on the team could simply carry her, but this was no time for what-ifs.

They raced. And before too long, they caught up with Gai, who appeared to be maintaining the same speed he had initially started with. Naruto knew that without Lee's weights on the small of his back, and the man's own considerable resistance tools on all of his limbs, this would be no contest at all, even with his crazy animal style running. Gai was simply that fast. Still, the three children working in a perfect concert born of trust were able to beat him this way, as the test was obviously designed for. It would be no test at all if there was no chance they could win.

After a mere few moments of sprinting, the three reached the front gate. Lee and Naruto felt warm, but fine, Lee's natural stamina and Naruto's chakra armor helping to maintain their stride. Ten-Ten, though, was a different matter. The girl's face was beet-red, and he lungs burned as she worked to take in enough oxygen to keep up this pace. Naruto frowned, knowing that they had to go all the way back, and suspecting that Ten-Ten needed at least a brief rest before they attempted it.

The Jinchurikki looked back, and noticed that Gai was only a short distance behind them, maybe ten to twenty seconds at his current steady pace. Naruto thought for a brief moment, as they pivoted around to run back the way they had come… and came up with an idea. He was now glad that he was the one in the middle.

"OK, team. I'm going to try something to boost our speed, so hang on and try not to get out of sync. Lee nodded, and Ten-Ten gave a slight pout, knowing this was because of her, but acquiesced as well. Naruto smiled, then released a B-rank wind technique from his back. Lee smiled as he felt himself propelled forward, and Ten-Ten went wide-eyed for a moment before she too started sporting a feral grin. They latched onto Naruto, lagging very slightly behind him despite the tightly-tied rope, and shot forward at nearly twice the speed they had been traveling at previously. Behind them Gai smiled as he increased his effort in the face of the gale-force wind assaulting him.

The three genin of Team 9 quickly made it back to the finish line, easily ahead of the madly loping Green Beast, and even had time untied their bonds and have a drink from Naruto's canteen before Gai arrived. The enigmatic jounin stood up and slowly stretched, before smiling madly.

"Team 9… You pass!" called Gai. Natuto smiled, and put his hand behind his head, while Ten-Ten grinned with her eyes half-closed and Lee threw his arm into the air with a gleeful cry. Konoha was never going to be the same again.

Author's note: Someone called this story delicious, which inspired me. Here you go. That, coupled with the liter of Cherry Coke I drank and a renewed need to write, resulted in this. Here's to you, fans. (If I have any left?) Hopefully I'll be able to update some of my other tales soon.


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